Sports-Odds.com believes that the Friesan Fire vs Pioneerof The Nile match up has two solid horses that are expected to be in the money if bettors select them as their Preakness Picks later today. The online racebook Bodog.com has made Pioneerof the Nile –130 odds the favorite against EVEN money for Friesan Fire. Here is a break down of each horses pros and cons so horse racing bettors can make informed Preakness Picks.
Friesan Fire – Since being the Derby favorite and falling well short of winning (18th place finish), Friesan Fire is among the Preakness Picks favorites to win the 134th Preakness Stakes with 8/1 odds at Bodog Racebook. Friesan Fire will be coming out of the 5th post with Gabriel Saez as his jockey and being trained by Larry Jones. Before you make your Friesan Fire Preakness Picks, let’s take a look at the pros and cons. The pros include that his trip in the Derby was terrible; can't blame those who are willing to toss it out. He won three starts prior to the Derby, all graded stakes, with blinkers. His stalking running style reminds me of 2003 Preakness winner Funny Cide. Sire A.P. Indy won the 1992 Belmont Stakes; pedigree suggests his handle added distance. Friesan Fire handled the wet track well in the Louisiana Derby romp two back.
The cons for Friesan Fire are that he is coming back in just two weeks after not running for seven weeks between his last two starts. His best race was over sloppy track; did he move up because of track? Friesan Fire grabbed a quarter in Derby and wasn't confirmed for this until Tuesday. Like his :57 4/5 move before the Derby, that five furlongs in :58 2/5 is a little too quick for my liking.
Pioneerof the Nile – After an impressive second place Derby finish, Pioneerof the Nile returns for the 2009 Preakness Stakes at 9th post. He is among the Preakness Picks favorites and offers decent value with 4/1 odds at Bodog Racebook. Pioneerof the Nileis trained by Bob Baffert and Garrett Gomez is the jockey. The pros for him include that he has won all four starts, all graded stakes, including CashCall Futurity and Santa Anita Derby last out; since changing barns before gutsy second in Derby. Pioneerof the Nile trained extremely well on dirt since arriving in Kentucky for the Derby; sports solid half mile in :47 3/5 over at Churchill prior to shipping in. Baffert has won the Preakness an impressive four times with Silver Charm in 1997, Real Quiet in 1998, Point Given in 2001 and War Emblem in 2002. He has evolved from one run closer to stalking type due to lack of early pace in pair prior to Derby; it helped him immensely over speed favoring Churchill strip Derby day and probably got him second money. He also handled slop well in conventional dirt debut last out.
The cons for Pioneerof the Nile are though he's training brilliantly over it, he has never raced on a fast dirt track. His highest Beyer figure is a 96 and he failed to improve off his synthetic numbers when he switched to dirt. He seemed to have been getting tired in deep stretch in the Derby and a case could have definitely been made for him to come down; is this a bit out of his scope? Two weeks may be asking a bit much.
Bodog.com has posted 2009 Preakness Picks Odds on the Friesan Fire vs Pioneerof The Nile Head to Head Match Up:
Friesan Fire: EVEN
Pioneerof The Nile: -130
